My Own Cathedral Windows

Cathedral Windows, whether in churches or quilts, are to be admired from afar. With respect and awe. Daunted. Dwarfed. Until a kind soul comes along and thrown open the vistas (ha ha) and lays bare the mysteries and secrets of their construction, breaking them down into shards that you can grasp.

Long story short, Chumkie, the kind soul, led a QAL for Desi Quilters on Cathedral Windows. With clear instructions, she taught us, the uninitiated, not one, but three methods of constructing them.

The first was the Orange Peel Method:

This was also my entry to the July'12 Challenge on Desi Quilters which required us to make a quilted item in monochromatic colours. Though it looks funny in the pics, I swear its all green. Ish.

The second was the One seam flying geese method. Here's what I made for my sewing room...

..and thats all the batting waiting to be despatched to members of  'Desi Quilters'..

..and here appears Max claiming yet another quilt as his own !

The third was the traditional method of making Cathedral Windows and thanks to Chumkie's QAL, I am forever exorcised of my fear of them.

Linking this up with Chumkie's Linky Party over at her blog, 'My Favourite Things'. 

May the tribe of the windows multiply! Amen !

Birds of a feather

How to get two birds with one stone?  Easy. Go where birds of a feather flock together. Like here. Like this. With ONE post, I shall document this quilt that I made for a Wholecloth Quilt Challenge on my very active and very inspiring group Desi Quilters ..AND ..I shall link this up with my DQ friend Chumkie's Two color linky party on her blog 'My favourite things'. Ha ha, one shot, two birds!

This is a one piece wholecloth quilt with an interesting bird print. I outlined the birds, about 300 of them, with Free Motion Quilting (FMQ), once along the top of each bird and echoed twice around the bottom.

 Though with the lime green backing and the multi-coloured binding, I'm not so sure if it qualifies for the Two-Color linky party ?!

Oh well, Chumkie, do let me know. Meanwhile I shall go talk about the weather.

Happy Independence Day !

In commemoration of India's 66th Independence Day, the rules for the August challenge on the 'funnest' quilting group Desi Quilters were:

- Make a mini not larger than 12"x12" in the tricolours of the Indian Flag, using pieces not larger than 1.5" finished.

Ever since  fellow DQ Madhu has been showing off her miniature blocks, I've been wanting to try out a mini.  Also been wanting to try out her (supposedly) easy method of making multiple HSTs in one shot. This then was the perfect opportunity to do both. Madhu also very generously shared tips for first time mini-makers like moi :

1.Rough calculation: 12x12 block =144sq inches.
1.5 " maximum size piece if square =2.25sqinches.
Therefore, minimum 64 pieces in a 12x12 block. If the pieces are not square, numbers go up!
Therefore: Plan your block size accordingly, ladies!
Therefore: Don't think, " It is only a mini"

2.Stitch big, cut down to size!

3.you can trim your seams to less than 1/4" before pressing. Reduces bulk.

4.Very very important to press ( just press, not move your iron along the pieces, beginner quilters) before joining the next piece. It is difficult to press later - can distort the block.

5.Do not use soft, limp fabrics. Very difficult to work with. Edges fray. Use starched fabric.

6.Very accurate measurements are a big blessing. In small pieces, small errors in measurement look huge! The beauty of a mini- quilt is its perfection

7.Take your time over it! Go slow! Challenge yourself! Even if you have to join a 100 pieces in 30 days, it is less than 4 pieces in a day!

8.‎6x6 is doable - it is just 36 sq inches. 7x7 becomes 49 and 12x12 is 144! Another thing I should have added: you'll be cutting your pieces bigger and trimming them down to size, right? Press them BEFORE you trim them down, not after. So that any distortion during pressing is taken care of.

9.English paper piecing works great with miniatures. As does paper foundation piecing. Perfect blocks every time!

10.Btw, true miniature artists use a trick for accurate length of seams: they count the number stitches! So 14 stitches may be the length of a particular seam! 

So, armed with her tips and a blank clear head, I pull out some pieces of saffron, white and green fabric. I do not yet have an idea of what I am going to make, but then, when has that ever stopped me from doing anything? 96 pieces and each li'l square of 2 HSTs not more than 1.5"...after some this-ing and that-ing, here's what I came up with for my entry for the DQ August '12 Independence day Challenge..

Started with a 2" grid on fusible paper fused to 3 pieces of roughly 6"x12" fabric..

Paired them and sewed on either sides of the diagonals..

And chopped them up..

And I have still have no idea where this is going. I know I need to sew back all those li'l HSTs, but how? Random piecing or planned? Random? Or planned? Random? Planned? Aaargh..!!

I try a li'l random..

A li'l planned..

Then settle for this..I love it btw

Some straight line quilting around the pinwheels and some fancy stitches along the diagonals..

Some hand sewn binding..

And I'm all done !

I chose the lotus design for some of the quilting lines, lotus being our national flower and all..didn't think it'd end up looking like the BJP flag!

Love it all the same. So does Max.

Happy Independence Day folks! Jai Hind !!

Nice curves !

Ok, so here I am, in the middle of sewing my daughter's school uniforms, for school reopening is just a day away...and out of nowhere comes this searing flash of inspiration..for the June challenge of our group Desi Quilters, the rules of which are - Make a quilted item, any size, using ONLY squares. So, I sew and sew (the inspiration, not the uniform) and finish my entry for the challenge. Tada !!

Gotcha!!

I know what you are thinking, but believe me they are all squares, only squares and nothing but squares. Yes, including the backing and the batting. :-)

Remember the 'Totally Dotty' quilt I'd made sometime back? And the lovely backing it had? Well, I had a bit left over...

I cut out the huge dots with the intention of quartering them. To my horror, I found the print was far from perfect and the dots were elliptical rather than perfect circles. Still, managed to somehow square them and chop them in quarters.

And what do I have? Why, tiny li'l fake drunkard's path blocks! Clever, huh?

Then I count the number of li'l squares I have and decide to go with a 5x10 arrangement. (Yes, I do have a tendency for doing things in the wrong order.) This is where one can have the most fun, 'coz the possibities are endless. The squares can be flipped in four different directions to give four different effects. The possible  permutations and combinations are mind-boggling. Not that I give my mind that much stress. Nope. I just go ahead with the very first arrangement that strikes my head!

Now for the backing and batting. The rules of the challenge are very clear. ONLY squares. So I construct the backing and batting by piecing up two biggish squares of each. Now how does one do a binding with squares?? Not one to stress my head too much, I do away with that headache altogether. Keeping the right sides of the top and backing together and then the batting on top, I stitch all around my fakey, leaving just enough gap to turn it inside out.

Its a breeze once I pull it inside out. One more line of stitches all around and some quilting lines following the fake draunkard's path and my June challenge is done.

Nice curves someone said! Bwahahahaha !!